“What the fuck is that?!”

  Isaac ducked and rolled as something skimmed over his head. The downforce from the creature’s wings kicked up twigs and leaves from the forest floor. He looked up into the forest canopy, but he couldn’t make out their attacker amongst the shadows created by the swaying branches.

  “I’ll say again,” said Francisco, his halberd held out before him like a religious cross used to ward off evil. “What the fuck was that?”

  “If you didn’t scream like a little girl, then we would have been able to attack it before it flew off into the trees,” said Felicity, bow in hand.

  “I didn’t scream like a little girl. It was a manly roar of— Here it comes again!” Francisco shrieked.

  Isaac was ready for it this time. Katana still sheathed, he waited for the thing to get in range. Wingspan a good eight feet across and built like a bat, it homed in on him. He still couldn’t see what it was properly as the campfire didn’t create enough light to illuminate it.

  “I can’t get a clear shot,” Felicity called from behind him.

  Issac didn’t answer—his focus locked on the thing in front of him. As he stepped back, the light over his shoulder revealed…

  A face.

  Leathery, humanoid, and grotesque. Its skin looked stretched and wrong, its mouth filled with jagged, triangular teeth. And then—with a sickening lurch—the jaw unhinged like a snake’s.

  It let out a shrill, inhuman scream.

  The creature was nearly on him. Still Issac didn’t move.

  “What are you waiting for? Kill the ugly fucker!”

  He ignored everything and stilled his breath. A rookie would have attacked too early and fallen for the creature’s ploy. Mouth still unhinged, it pulled its head back at the last minute and stabbed its claws his way.

  Isaac moved without thinking.

  One second his blade was sheathed. The next, it cut off both the creature’s feet.

  Blood arced through the air as the creature pulled out of its dive, struggling to gain height to escape. It swooped at Isaac’s head— two arrows streaked through the air after it. The first missed as it dodged. The second embedded itself in the base of the creature’s skull.

  It did a barrel roll in the air and collapsed in a heap on the ground, one wing falling into the fire.

  “Thought you were supposed to be a master archer?”

  Felicity looked at Francisco as if he was an idiot. “The first arrow set up the second arrow.” Francisco gave a look as if he didn’t believe her. “And aren’t you meant to be The Man? The musclebound berserker who runs into the face of danger no matter what?”

  Francisco looked sheepish as he edged toward the dead creature. He kicked it over with the toe of his boot and did the sign of the cross repeatedly. “Cihuateteo.”

  “A cihua—what?” asked Felicity.

  “Cihuateteo is an evil spirit of a woman who died in childbirth. Nasty, vile creatures, they are a mix of vampires and harpies. They are most active at night, stealing children and seducing men so they can drain them of their reproductive juices.” Isaac and Felicity gave him a deadpan stare. “I’m talking about manfoam—sexwee—willymilk—baby—”

  “We get the picture,” said Felicity. “What does that have to do with you being chickenshit when you see one?”

  Francisco rubbed the back of his neck. “My mother was a deeply religious person, who believed in curses, demons, and things from folklore. Growing up, she would always get me to see some holy person if I ever got in trouble at school so they could banish the demons from my soul. Things got worse when…my father—” He shook his head. “I remember one time waking up in the dead of night strapped to the bed. A mirror suspended above me, so I could see the ritualistic drawings she had drawn on me in the blood of a beheaded chicken who was still flapping about the room.

  “Holy water in one hand—burning incense in the other. She was trying to banish any connection I had to my father.”

  Isaac and Felicity shared awkward glances.

  Felicity was the first one to speak. “That’s kind of fucked up for your mum to do that to you.”

  “It wasn’t her fault… She was different after what happened with her husband. She was always a religious woman. I think God helped her cope with what was happening in the world and what happened with her husband. The proof that things like aliens and demons existed just pushed her in the wrong direction.”

  “Her…husband,” said Felicity, “wasn’t…your father?”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Being a father goes beyond the act of creation; it’s a lifetime journey of nurturing, teaching, and loving with unwavering dedication.”

  Isaac opened his mouth but closed it as his mind tried to get out what he wanted to say without offending his friend. “So fighting a mob of angry locals where we are outnumbered twenty to one, no problem. Fighting things in sewers also no problem, but fighting things in the woods…that looks like a banshee crossed with a vampire…”

  Francisco waved them off. “It’s more complicated than that. It involves a suppressed religious upbringing mixed with a touch of sexual deviancy.”

  Felicity snorted. “Isn’t that the case with every religious nut?”

  Isaac bent down and lifted the creature’s head into the light. “Whatever it is, it’s an ambush predator. Judging by the skin tone and eyes, as well as the overdeveloped ears, it’s a nocturnal predator. Do either of you two know what it is?”

  They both shrugged.

  “It may not be native to this world,” said Felicity.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “I’ve been reading my manual—” They both looked at her with blank faces. “The manual we all got when we came through the portal.” They shrugged. “The manual that gives you information about this world. The one given to us with some coin, a map, food rations, a passport in case we wanted to get into domains without having to pay someone to smuggle us in…”

  “Turned all that shit down,” said Francisco, “just took the coin.”

  Felicity looked at Isaac. “I…didn’t bother queuing up. The queue was a good four hours long and I didn’t have time to wait around for that shit. Destiny waits for no man.”

  Felicity took a good hard look at both of them before covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe I’m going to die with a bunch of fucking idiots. One too stupid to seek help when needed and the other too prideful.” They both started to protest, but she spoke over them. “The point being, is that because this world links to thousands, maybe millions of other worlds across the galaxy by portals, all sorts of fauna and flora have made their way to this planet. Some intentionally, some by accident. This world is a melting pot. Where only the strongest survive.”

  “But if that was the case,” asked Francisco, “wouldn’t overpopulation be a problem?”

  “Like I said, only the strongest survive and are prey for the weak, plus no one knows how big this planet is. Some say this planet is ten times the size of Earth, others say a hundred. Whatever the case, just know we’ll be seeing things from all sorts of myths and folktales as well as other things no one has any names for.”

  “That makes sense,” said Isaac. “The portal I went through was deep in the Brazilian jungle, unguarded. Anything could have walked through.”

  “The more time I spend here, the more this place sounds like Florida,” said Flic.

  “Great,” said Francisco, “more creepy-ass shit we get to fight. Give me a giant with a sword as big as a house any day of the week over this shit. I knew making our way through this forest was a bad idea. Nothing good comes from walking through a forest. Contra mal de ojo, sal y ajo.”

  They both looked at him.

  “Against the evil eye, salt and garlic.”

  “Well, if you didn’t cause a scene in the last town we were in, we wouldn’t have to flee with our tail between our legs,” said Felicity.

  “How was I to know that the barmaid was married—”

  Isaac drowned out their fighting as he rolled the rest of the creature into the fire. It didn’t take long for its skin to pop and crackle and for the flames to jump while its fat burned.

  The last handful of months had been slower than he wanted it to be. Without any other means of transport, the three had traveled on foot, alternating between running and walking. They covered the distance quickly now that he and Felicity were at a Viscount and Viscountess level, they could run at the speed of a galloping horse for some time before tiring. Francisco, on the other hand, was still only a Baron. Bigger than both of them and less enhanced, he was already struggling to keep up.

  Isaac and Felicity spoke about their new advancement and everything it involved, from being more in tune with their surroundings to the leaps in strength and stamina they experienced. If Isaac or Felicity could ever return home, they would be hailed as gods.

  Returning home…Isaac shook his head while he stared into the flames.

  What would he be returning to?

  The only family he had were mentors who were paid or owed debts to his parents to teach him how to survive. To teach him how to kill. Skills that had now got him in more trouble than he wanted to with the Baldwin Estate. The plan had always been to keep his head low, collect a crew, and challenge for the number one spot. To become the God above all Gods, even thinking about it now sounded absurd. But it was a goal—a dream, he would accomplish or die trying. He just hoped the others felt the same way.

  He looked up to find both of them watching him. “What?”

  “Where do you go?” asked Felicity.

  “Sometimes I think about what I need to do to accomplish my goals…and it scares me at first. But beneath that fear, I can feel excitement bubbling away. The things we are going to do, going to accomplish will echo for eternity.” They looked at him like he was crazy before he burst out laughing. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be so melodramatic.”

  “It’s all right,” said Francisco, “we all have things we want to accomplish.”

  “Yeah, I want to get so rich and powerful that no one fucks with my sister again.”

  “Wasn’t that stash of coins and gems we found enough for that?” asked Isaac.

  “For now. But the Baldwins are so much stronger and have more resources. It’s like a millionaire going up against one of the greatest corporations in the world. Yes, I have enough wealth to keep the wolves at bay, but unless I crush them so completely that they’ll never fuck with me again, my sister—Jess will never be safe.”

  “Especially now they know who we are.”

  Isaac elbowed Francisco in the ribs.

  “What?” he said, holding his hands up. “It’s not like we weren’t all thinking it.”

  “Maybe think a little quieter,” said Isaac. He looked at Felicity, whose downcast eyes told him everything he needed to know. He grabbed her shoulders until her focus was on him. “Flic, I promise you that as long as I’m alive, nothing shall happen to your sister.”

  “What if you’re not enough?” she said with pain-filled eyes. “Sometimes I feel like I’ll never be free of them. That me and Jess will never be safe, no matter what we do.”

  “Then we crush them. Crush them so completely that they’ll never want to fuck with us again.” They both looked unsure. “If you trust me—if both of you trust me—then all your dreams shall be made into reality. You have my word.”

  They both gave him a nod.

  Silence descended until Francisco was the first to break it. “That’s great and all, but what do we do now?”

  “Right now,” said Isaac, “we get some rest. Because the goal stays the same. We get to our next destination, find a ritual tattooist, get some info on where the next Tree is, and from there, plan our next move.”

  Francisco snorted. “You make it sound so easy.”

  Isaac smiled. “That’s because it is. Now get some rest. We move at first light.”